


Better

by bluemermaid



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Post-Canon, Sirius Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 00:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3402545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemermaid/pseuds/bluemermaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James brings a great big smelly dog with him to the train station.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better

James brought a great big smelly dog with him to the train station.

Scorpius sneered at the sight of the mangy thing, curling his upper lip in disgust. "Couldn't your parents afford a decent pet?" he asked, puffing his chest out with pride. "My family's got purebred peacocks on our estate. That thing of yours is probably some filthy mutt sired in a back alley somewhere."

James laughed, as the dog beside him growled menacingly. Scorpius wasn't bothered by either reaction, though he did take a very tiny step backward, slowly so that James might not notice. "Your family's a bunch of stuffed poofs," James said loudly. "I'd take Padfoot over your boring peacocks any day of the week. I just wish I could bring him to school with me."

"Bring that thing to school?" Scorpius demanded, pointing at the dog, who was staring at Scorpius as though he might be dinner. Scorpius swallowed nervously. "That thing smells like a dead fish," he said. "He's disgusting." The dog darted forward, snapping its teeth, and Scorpius leaped back with a strangled cry of alarm. The dog, apparently called Padfoot, sat back and barked at him, and Scorpius could swear it sounded like laughter. He gasped for breath.

James was laughing even harder now. "You're such a prat, Malfoy," he said. "Not so high and mighty with a dog nipping at your heels, are you?" He shook his head. "Clearly I'm the superior wizard here. You'd never find me cowering at the sight of an animal."

"Fuck off," Scorpius snapped, feeling his face redden and hating himself for it. No, hating James for it, for how dare he bring a monster to the train station with him? Stupid James with his big ego, who the hell did he think he was, anyway? "Just because your dad's some washed up hero, doesn't mean you can torment your betters," he sneered. "I'm still purer and better at magic than you."

"Yeah, right," James replied, still grinning with the sort of smile that made Scorpius want to punch him in the face. "I'm a Potter. We won the war, remember? Your dad was busy hiding under a table when that happened."

"That doesn't matter," Scorpius said, fighting embarrassment. "I'm better than he was."

"My dog's better than you are," James replied. "You have no idea how much better my dog is."

"Your dog," said Scorpius, shaking with some frightening mixture of rage, embarrassment, and crushed ego, "is a rank-smelling, useless, flea-ridden beast, who ought to be murdered for wasting the space and air of all the real dogs in the world."

It happened before either boy could even react; Scorpius was standing there yelling with his fists clenched in one moment, and the next he was screaming and writhing on the ground as a large furry animal crushed him. James shouted something and yanked the dog away, and Scorpius whimpered pitifully, rolling over and cradling his hand.

"He bit me," Scorpius said. "Your monster bit me."

"Well, you shouldn't have riled him up," James replied, but his voice sounded much kinder than it had before the attack. Scorpius flinched as a hand touched his shoulder, turning towards James with a suspicious glare, but James only took Scorpius by the injured hand and examined it carefully. "It's just a scratch," he said, holding Scorpius's hand gently in his. Scorpius suddenly felt nervous. "You'll be all right. Does it hurt much?"

Scorpius wasn't sure what to say. He felt shaken and torn up, but only on the inside; there was no real physical pain anywhere, save the burning in his hand that was quickly feeling better as James touched it. "I don't know," he said.

James looked up, and their eyes met with a sudden searing pain in Scorpius's heart. But that was stupid; he hated James Potter. He hated James Potter, so then why did he feel so nervous? His heart was pounding; he tried not to look at James's mouth. James actually had a rather nice smile, when he wasn't being an arrogant twat. "You don't know?" James asked, mockingly, but it was a very different sort of mocking than had gone on before. Now James sounded almost affectionate in his teasing. Scorpius shook his head to clear his mind of such a daft notion.

"I mean, no," Scorpius said firmly, wrenching his hand out of James's grasp. "I'm not hurt at all. You're lucky, because if that beast had mauled me I'd have marched straight to my father, and then you'd really be in trouble."

James nudged Scorpius's arm playfully. "Sure," he said. "Your dad would glare at me much harder than you could, probably. Look, we're going to miss the train, so let's just kiss and make up, eh?" He raised his eyebrows. "I think Padfoot would be pleased to see us become friends." Padfoot barked behind him, wagging his tail.

"You ought to muzzle that thing," Scorpius said, pointing to the dog. "He nearly took my fingers off."

"Padfoot, be a good dog," said James, laughing, and Padfoot lifted up on his hind legs and barked. "Come on, Scorpius, let's go. I'll heal your hand for you on the train, okay? You'll be fine."

"I suppose," Scorpius said reluctantly, as he followed James over towards the Hogwarts Express. He didn't want to be attracted to James Potter, not in the slightest. But if James really did heal his hand, Scorpius supposed he could hate the boy a little less.

"Bye, Padfoot!" James called from the window once they were on the train, as Scorpius sat beside him feeling miffed.

"You're so in love with that damn mutt," he muttered. "While I sit here with a bleeding hand because of him."

James took Scorpius's hand again. "You're infuriating, Malfoy," he said. "Didn't I say I'd heal your hand for you?" He waved his wand over the scratch and eased Scorpius's pain, though for some reason James didn't let go of Scorpius afterward. "Better, right?"

Scorpius looked up at James's face and slowly nodded his head. "Yeah," he said. "Better."

Outside, Padfoot the dog watched the train depart until it was out of sight, then loped away into the shadows, where he transformed into an older man with shoulder-length black hair. He ambled away with a satisfied smile on his face, whistling to himself as he went.

He met up with Draco Malfoy in the street outside the station. "I saw your son off for you," he said.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "You didn't hurt him, I hope."

Sirius Black barked out a laugh. "Of course not," he replied. "But you should tell him to watch himself. His attitude can be very insensitive to animals."

"Scorpius is used to the finer things in life," Draco said, with a smirk. "He's not accustomed to large, shaggy black dogs."

"I'm not shaggy, boy," Sirius growled, grabbing Draco by the arm and yanking him in close.

"And I'm not a boy," Draco replied, trying to sound strong, though his eyes widened and his breath hitched.

"No, you're not. Which is why I can feel perfectly comfortable doing this," said Sirius, before kissing Draco fiercely on the lips.

Draco pulled away with his face red. "That's hardly proper behavior for the middle of the street," he said.

Sirius leered at him. "Then we'll have to take this elsewhere."

"You swear you didn't hurt my son, then?" Draco asked, as they walked off towards their hidden Apparition point.

"I might have scared him a bit," Sirius replied, with a shrug and a careless grin. "But it's nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you when we get back to the Manor."

"We'll have to tell them someday," Draco said nervously, his hands twitching, though mostly in anticipation for whatever plans Sirius had for him later. "We can't keep sneaking around."

Sirius pulled Draco into an alley and thrust him up against the wall. "I like having my little secrets," he said gruffly, kissing Draco again. "Besides, I don't think the boys would take very well to it, do you?" Sirius grinned. "Let's give them the school year to get 'accustomed' to the idea of one another first. They may decide they'll like us better once they start getting along better themselves."

Draco narrowed his eyes at him. "Are you suggesting something about our boys, Black?"

"We'll see," said Sirius. "For now, I'd just like to suggest something about us." He whispered something in Draco's ear that made the younger man's face flush. "Better, right?"

Draco looked up and smirked at his lover. "Yeah," he said. "Better."


End file.
